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by Zurela



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coran is the best space uncle, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Homesickness, Lance is the glue that holds the team together, Y'all I know the stuff I write is usually cheesy, but this takes the cake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 09:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10462170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zurela/pseuds/Zurela
Summary: The members of Voltron have noticed that Lance has been behaving suspiciously lately, and make some assumptions. Well, all except one.





	

The members of Voltron had been working together for a long time, now, so it was safe to say they knew each other fairly well. In regards to previous paladins, perhaps it could be considered not long at all. After all, Allura’s own father had fought alongside Zarkon for years, and they ended up at war with each other. Still, the paladins had all come from the same planet, and had nowhere else, _no one_ else, to turn to out in space. With only seven of them there, and having only each other to rely on to make it to tomorrow, they were quickly able to form a strong bond built on trust.

Right?  
_

Hunk entered the kitchen after training in order to start cooking dinner. Their sparring session had gone well today, but was also exhausting. Everyone seemed to find a rhythm with each other fairly quickly, a testament to how hard they had been working and how they had grown to account for each other’s fighting styles. Allura seemed very pleased by this, but that sort of focus also required a lot of energy.

Hunk was well aware that the team would be starving, if his own growling stomach was any indication, and decided they could celebrate their success with a decent meal as opposed to the usual food goo. He would have to get creative, as they were running low on ingredients. Eventually he would figure something out, though, and experimenting with a meal would help him unwind. 

With that in mind, Hunk was completely caught off guard to discover Lance already in the kitchen.

At first it seemed as if he was just snacking, which was fair, as he probably wasn’t patient enough to wait for Hunk to cook. After watching for a moment, though, Hunk noticed that Lance wasn’t actually _eating_ any of the food spread out on the counter in front of him. In fact, he wasn’t doing anything with it. He seemed to just be...observing.

“Lance?” Hunk called out, causing Lance to jump in surprise. “What are you doing, buddy?”

Lance backed away from the counter, as if he was caught doing something wrong. “Nothing! Just got hungry, thought I would grab something to eat, that’s all.”

“Didn’t look like you were actually eating anything, though.” Hunk studied Lance, who looked like he hadn’t yet recovered from Hunk’s surprise entrance. “What are you up to?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Why do I always have to be up to something?”

Hunk laughed. “Because I know you.”

Lance finally relaxed a little and smiled. “True. Honestly, I was just craving salsa, so I wanted to see if we had anything here that I could use to try and make...space salsa, or something. But I have no idea what any of this is, and I’m a little afraid to try it.”

Hunk paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“Hey!” Lance protested. “It’s not funny!”

“Sorry,” Hunk apologized, “I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought you were trying to poison Keith, or something. I never took you for a chef.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I’m not. At least, not like you. It’s just something my mom and I would do together sometimes. She would grow tomatoes in the garden and we would make homemade salsa. Don’t get me wrong, I love your cooking, but I just miss food from home, you know?”

Hunk watched as Lance’s face fell while he spoke. So that’s what this was? Lance was homesick? He made his way over to Lance and put a hand on his shoulder. “I get it, man. I miss Earth, too.”

Lance started to pull away, so Hunk used the hand still braced on his shoulder to pull him back over to the counter. “Come on, don’t back out now! I still have to make dinner for everyone. You wanna help me out? We can try and recreate tacos, or something. Then when you perfect your space salsa, we can really party.”

Lance smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sure.”  
_

Determined to learn more about the lions and their history, Pidge had taken to meditating in her lion whenever she had the time. After Shiro had discovered so much while bonding with the black lion, Pidge couldn’t help her natural curiosity. Shiro had tried to explain some things to her, but there was still a lot even he didn’t know. If she wanted answers, she was going to have to find them herself, though that wasn’t anything new.

While headed to her lion one day, she was surprised to find Lance already in the hangar. Usually when she went in there, she was the only one, but it wasn’t completely unexpected to run into another paladin. They had all been trying to form a better bond with their lions, so she probably wouldn’t have questioned his presence there all that much, had he not yelped upon seeing her and thrown his arms behind his back.

“Lance…” she chided. “What are you hiding?”

Lance rolled his eyes, but still kept his hands behind his back. “What??? Nothing! Why do you think I’m hiding something?”

She gave him a pointed look, but he still didn’t budge. A nervous smile crossed his face. 

_The face of guilt._

“Alright,” she conceded, turning to walk away towards her lion. “You don’t have to tell me- _ha!_ ”

She spun on her heel and stuck her bayard in his side. He immediately jumped before falling to the floor, a small metal object falling next to him.

“Is that…a Galra drone?”

Lance jumped up and pulled the small robot behind him, but he had already been caught. 

“Lance, what are you doing with that? Where did you even get it? It could still be functional! It might be recording us, or tracking us, or-”

“Don’t worry,” Lance reassured, though he looked almost...sad. “It’s broken. I shot it on our last mission and grabbed it.”

“Why?”

Lance studied her for a moment before sighing. “Honestly, you’re probably the best person to ask, so I might as well tell you. I wanted to see if I could...fix it. Have it work for us, like Rover.”

“Rover?” She hadn’t thought about Rover in a while. It still stung, thinking of the loss, but in the end, it had just been a drone.

“Yeah, you know, didn’t you ever want to make another one? I thought you of all people would try.”

Pidge grimaced. “Well, after the Galra used Rover to sneak a bomb into the castle, I was a little hesitant to try it again. Besides, it’s not like we really need it.”

Lance’s face fell. “Right. Sorry. I just thought...maybe I could try and do the same thing. Not to have him do work or anything, just because he was cool, you know? He was almost like a pet.”

Pidge snickered. “What, you thought it would just be that easy because I did it? It’s not that simple, Lance.”

His face turned bright red, and he looked down in shame. “I...I know that, Pidge. I know I’m not some brilliant hacker, or anything. I just thought I could try. Forget it, though, it was dumb.”

Before Pidge could question him further, Lance jumped to his feet and rushed out of the room, drone wrapped tightly in his arms. She debated going after him, but decided to just leave it alone. Whatever he was planning, it wasn’t her business. Besides, the chances of him getting it working again were slim, now that it had been shot. It probably wasn’t worth worrying about. After all, what big secrets could Lance even be hiding?  
_

Shiro made his way towards the training room for some extra individual practice. While they held sparring sessions together, he liked to train a little extra. He was the leader, he needed to be stronger so he could protect his team, he-

“Dang it!”

Was someone already in there?

Shiro jogged the rest of the way into the room and found Lance sitting on the floor in the middle of the training deck, various weapons and tools laid in front of him. He sat cross legged amongst the pile, his bayard laying in his lap. Whatever he was doing, it held his attention so closely that he failed to even notice Shiro enter the room.

“Lance?”

Lance jumped and fell over in surprise, before pulling himself back up. “Oh! Hey, Shiro! Did you need to use the room? I can move if you want.”

Shiro smiled and approached him. “No, it’s okay. It’s nice to see you getting some extra training in.”

He offered a hand, which Lance took to pull himself up. “Well, that’s not exactly what I was doing…”

“Oh?” Shiro asked. “Then what are you up to?”

Lance blushed, seeming flustered at the attention. “I was just...wondering about our bayards, I guess. I mean, they belonged to the other paladins before us, right? They adapt to the person using them. So, if they do that, I thought maybe they could change into other things for us, too. I just wanted to see if it could become something else, but I don’t know how to do it.”

Shiro was completely taken aback by Lance’s unexpected interest in the bayards. “Well, uh, I guess that’s a good question. I wish I could help you, but I don’t really know much myself. Have you tried asking Allura or Coran?”

Lance’s face flushed even redder, and he sighed. “No, it’s not that important. I was just messing around.”

Whatever he was doing, he clearly wanted to handle it himself. Shiro found himself torn. While he wanted the team to be able to rely on each other, he also understood the desire to keep things to himself. How could he call Lance out on it if he couldn’t do the same? Eventually, he decided it was just best left alone.

“Alright,” Shiro conceded. “What were you trying to turn it into, anyways?”

“N-nothing in particular! I was just curious!”

“Do you not like your weapon? Do you want something else?”

“No, it’s not like that at all! Look, it doesn’t matter, it didn’t work anyways. The training deck is all yours!”

Lance fled before Shiro could press further. He tried to follow, but tripped and fell on a long pipe-shaped object on the floor. Looking down at the mess Lance had left, Shiro noticed that everything he had was similar in size and shape.  
_

After a long training session, Keith wanted nothing more than a hot shower. As he made his way up to his room, however, he was startled by a loud crash coming from one of the bay doors down the hall.

He entered to find none other than Lance, legs sticking out from behind a small ship. The same ships, he noted, that Pidge had upgraded when she planned on leaving to find her family.

“Lance!” Keith shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Lance jumped, hitting his head on the metal of the ship and falling to the floor. “You guys _really_ have to stop sneaking up on me,” he muttered, rubbing a hand on his forehead.

“Are you leaving?”

“What?”

Keith took step forward. “What are you doing with the ships?”

“Nothing!” Lance defended. “Why is it your business, anyways?”

“It’s my business,” Keith growled, “if you plan on ditching us!”

“What?” Lance asked again. “Who said I’m leaving?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s a little suspicious if you’re sneaking around with a ship without any of us knowing. Pidge did the same thing. You think you can make it to Earth in that thing, anyways? You would need a wormhole to get there.”

Lance glared at Keith and stood to meet him at eye level. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, don’t I?” Keith argued. “Pidge wanted to run away to look for her family. Allura and I wanted to run away to see if we were being tracked by the Galra. I know what running away looks like at this point, Lance.”

Lance took a step closer to get in Keith’s face. “And who says I’m running?”

“Well if you’re not running, where are you going?”

Lance stepped back and crossed his arms, looking to the floor. “It’s not important.”

“Yes, it is! We’re a team, we need to stick together so we can beat-”

“-so we can beat the Galra and save the universe. I get it, Keith. Sorry if we don’t all adapt to being thrown in the role of ‘defender of the universe’ as well as you did!”

“I know it’s not easy, but that doesn’t mean you can just run!”

Lance ran his hands through his hair. “God, who said I’m running? Why are you here making all these blind accusations when you don’t even know what you’re talking about?”

“Well it’s not exactly looking good, Lance! What else could you possibly be doing with a ship? Not to mention that you’re by yourself, I’m guessing no one else knows that you’re here, and you’re _specifically_ not using your lion, which could be tracked. What do you want me to think?”

Lance shot him a cold glare before turning to walk towards him again. Keith braced himself for a fight, but was surprised as Lance breezed by him instead.

“Whatever, mullet, I don’t need this. Forget it.”

Keith was left alone as Lance exited the docks. Whatever he was up to, it couldn’t be good.  
_  
The castle, despite its numerous rooms and hallways, only saw minimal activity in a few places anymore. It seemed to be seen more as a ship and less as a castle these days. Allura assumed that the paladins still did not know of the many facilities stored in this place they now called home.

While it was a functional ship, it had still been home of the Altean royal family. It had a control room, and loading docks for ships and the lions, but also contained many bathing rooms, the swimming pool, and even a library. While most information had now been stored in computers, the library still contained plenty of valuable information, not to mention historical records and documents. Why, even the initial agreement of the first paladins of Voltron was stored in there. Yet it was hardly ever used.

Allura did not frequent this area, but she always found herself pleased to go there. Occasionally she needed information that had not been digitized, or just liked looking over old books from her childhood. Now that the castle’s stored memories of her father had been destroyed, the library was one of the few places she could turn to for a sense of home.

When she entered on this particular day, however, she was shocked to find not the mice, nor Coran, but Lance inside. He was looking over the tall shelves in awe, which indicated that this room was a relatively new discovery for him.

“Lance!” Allura shouted, partially in shock and partially in accusation. “What are you doing in here?”

Lance swirled to look at her. “I seem to be getting that question a _lot_ lately.”

She ignored him and pressed on. “I was not aware that any of the paladins even knew of this room’s existence. Have you been here before?”

Lance shrugged. “Nope. I was just exploring the castle and found it not too long ago. I just wanted to look around, I didn’t mean to intrude.”

Allura softened. “It’s alright. I should have known that you all would eventually become more curious about this place and find some of the other rooms. I’m surprised it took you this long, honestly.”

Lance laughed. “We don’t have a lot of free time in the middle of a war, Princess.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

This situation felt off. Normally, Lance would have been flirting with her, or making jokes. And why was he exploring the castle alone? Typically he spent his free time with Hunk, or even Pidge or Coran on occasion. 

“Princess?” Lance asked, pulling Allura from her thoughts. “Are all the books here written in Altean?”

“No, of course not. We have writings from many different cultures and planets, even some from the Galra.”

Lance brightened. “Do you have anything from Earth?”

“No, unfortunately. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, nothing,” he sighed, his previous positive demeanor fading fast. “I was just wondering.”

Allura did not respond, instead watched as Lance looked back to the shelves with an almost frustrated glare.

“Did you need some sort of information? I’d be happy to find it for you.”

“No…do you think, though, that I could maybe try learning to read Altean?”

“You want to learn Altean?” Allura asked in surprise. This was not what she had been expecting.

“I mean, I know Pidge was trying and said it was pretty hard, but they told me that English would be hard too and I did okay with that.”

“Why do you need to read Altean?”

Lance blushed. “No reason,” he assured. “Never mind, it was a silly question. I’ll leave you alone now.”

He nearly ran for the door, not even pausing to acknowledge Allura in his haste. “Wait, Lance-”

“Sorry I busted into your library! Don’t worry, I won’t sneak around again!”

Before she could call after him again, the door shut behind him, effectively ending the conversation.  
_

“Have any of you noticed Lance doing anything suspicious lately?”

Allura had left the library to find Lance, but he wasn’t in any of his usual places. After looking in his room, the training deck, and the kitchen, she made her way to the common room to discover the other paladins present, but still no Lance. 

“What?” Shiro asked.

“I just ran into Lance in the castle library-”

“We have a library?” Pidge interrupted.

“-and he had been in there alone, then asked if he could learn Altean. I was wondering if perhaps you had seen him, or noticed any other odd behavior.”

“I did,” Keith piped up. “I saw him messing with a ship a few days ago. I asked if he was trying to leave, and he just freaked out and left.”

“I saw him by the lions,” Pidge mentioned. “It didn’t seem that weird to me at first, but he had a broken Galra drone. He asked if I wanted to try and make another Rover.”

“I ran into him in the training room the other day,” Shiro added. “I thought he was just getting in some extra practice, but he asked me about his bayard. Wanted to know if it could turn into anything else.”

“Hunk?” Allura questioned.

Hunk hesitated, before rubbing his neck sheepishly. “I did see him in the kitchen the other day. He said he was just trying to recreate food from home.”

“Is he trying to go back to Earth?” Keith asked. “I thought maybe he was trying to take a ship so we couldn’t track him, but he wouldn’t be able to wormhole.”

“I think he knows he wouldn’t make it far. If he plans on leaving, he would be leaving for somewhere close,” Allura commented.

“What if…” Pidge said cautiously. She looked up to meet Allura’s eyes. “Could he be turning to the Galra?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Shiro argued. “We’re a team. He wouldn’t betray us like that.”

“Think about it, though. The Galra could have easily tried to convince him they’ll let him go home if he turns us in. And he’s clearly been keeping secrets from all of us. I caught him with a Galra drone, and he could have been lying about it being broken. Keith caught him with a ship. The only reason he wouldn’t take his lion is if he’s trying to be discreet, and doesn’t want to be tracked. And Allura, you found him in the library. What could he need in an Altean library? If he needed to know anything, he could have just asked. If he wants to learn to read Altean, then he must be looking for information that he can’t ask about.”

“I suspect you may be right, Pidge,” Allura said.

“Come on!” Hunk interrupted. “I know Lance doesn’t see himself as such a valuable part of the team, but he wouldn’t turn on us like that!”

That grabbed Shiro’s attention. “He doesn’t think he deserves to be part of the team?”

Hunk froze. “I didn’t say that.”

Shiro turned to Allura. “Whatever is going on, we need to confront him about this.”  
_

After fleeing the library, Lance knew he had to go somewhere Allura wouldn’t find him. Normally he would go hide in his room, but it was clear he wasn’t going to be let off the hook that easily. He wasn’t prepared to deal with this yet.

Instead, he made his way to the large room with the crystal from the Balmera. It was fitting, almost, that he always ended up in this room when he found himself missing home. The one with the computer that was able to show him exactly how far from Earth he really was.

Actually…

Lance made his way over to the computer. The symbols were all Altean, but maybe he could figure this out anyways. Altean technology was so advanced, and if this room could create a projection of the entire universe, then surely it could-

“Need help finding something?”

Lance spun to find Coran behind him. Lance jumped back and threw his hands up in surrender. “I’m not trying to mess with anything, I swear!”

Coran laughed. “I never said you were. Did you need something? Do you want to see where Earth is again? I think we may be a few light years closer than we were last time.”

Lance sighed. “No, it’s okay…”

Coran didn’t leave, or push, or pry. “I serve the princess and the paladins of Voltron. If you need assistance, you need only ask.”

“Coran...can this...do you…do you have music?”

“Music?”

“Yeah,” Lance said. “It’s just, we’ve been gone for a long time. And this castle is great, and so advanced, but it’s so...quiet. I’m not used to it. You did have music on Altea, right?”

Coran laughed. “Well, of course we did! I was quite an excellent dancer, back in the day.”

Lance sighed. “I know I can’t go back to Earth, and I’m fine with it. Well, not fine with it, but I don’t plan on going home. I just wanted to make this place feel a little bit closer to it.”

Coran hummed. “I see. Well, you won’t find what you’re looking for on there.”

Lance’s face fell. “Oh, okay. Thanks for your help-”

“But,” Coran interrupted. “I think I might have something for you.”

The smile that spread across Lance’s face melted Coran’s heart. “Really?”

“Yes,” he affirmed. “Stay here, and I will be back in just a tick.”

“Thanks, Coran!”  
_

Shortly after Coran left, Allura and the remaining paladins located Lance, where he still sat waiting. At the sounds of footsteps, Lance jumped up. “Coran, thanks so much for- guys?”

The whole team stood before him, save for Coran. Allura and Shiro were side by side, with a matching stern expression. Keith stood to the side, looking annoyed. Pidge and Hunk hung back, each seeming somewhat nervous. 

“Uh, is everything alright?”

Shiro sighed. “No, Lance, it isn’t, and I think you know why.”

Lance took a step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do not lie to us,” Allura snapped. “Are you trying to abandon your team?”

“What? No!”

Shiro held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Lance, we just think you’ve been acting a little strange lately, and we want to know what’s going on. We don’t want to make assumptions, but it seems like you’ve been hiding things from us.”

“I’m not- why does everyone think I’m leaving? I’m not trying to go back to Earth, I swear!”

“No,” Keith bit, “but maybe you’re trying to turn to the Galra?”

Lance paled. “What?!”

Pidge sighed. “Allura saw you in the library, and you said you wanted to learn to read Altean. Keith caught you preparing a ship, I found you with a Galra drone, and Shiro said you asked about changing your bayard. Even Hunk thinks you’re acting weird. You have to admit, this doesn’t look good for you.”

Lance stepped back again. “You...you really think I would betray you like that?”

“Lance…” Shiro started.

“No!” he shouted. “How could you just accuse me of something like that? I...I can’t…”

“We are just looking for an explanation, Lance,” Allura assured.

“No, you already came here with an explanation,” he snapped, turning to stare at the floor. “You don’t need mine.”

“We need to act like a team,” Shiro continued. “If you’re keeping secrets, that’s a problem for all of us. This is a war, Lance. I know it’s hard. But if the Galra told you they’ll spare you, or Earth, if you turn us in, they’re lying. They’ll kill us, they’ll kill you, they’ll kill your family. We need to stay together as a team and fight. It’s the only way.”

Lance raised his head to glare at Shiro, who was surprised to find tears streaming down his cheeks. “And you think this is how a team works? You think I’m hiding things from you, so you automatically assume the worst and come accuse me of betraying you? How can you ask me to be part of a team that doesn’t even trust me?”

“Does it matter?” Keith asked. “It sounds like you don’t even want to be a part of it.”

Lance looked at him with complete devastation. “You have no clue what you’re talking about.”

Allura took a step forward. “You need to cooperate for this to work, Lance.”

“No,” Lance argued. “This already isn’t working.”

Lance pushed his way past the others and ran from the room. Shiro turned to chase him, but bumped into Coran before he could leave the room.

“What happened here?” he asked.

“No time, Coran,” Shiro responded. “We’re worried that Lance is trying to go home, or to the Galra. We have to stop him. Can you secure all the doors out of the castle?”

Coran hummed, before shrugging. “Won’t be necessary.”

“What?” Allura questioned. “Of course it’s necessary! This team is in danger, and if he leaves, Voltron and the fate of the universe are doomed!”

Coran turned to her. “Why, Princess, I believe you should have a bit more trust in your paladins.”

Allura stepped back. “What?”

“I think perhaps you don’t know that boy’s intentions. He just told me himself that he misses his home, but knows he has to stay. He must cope with the knowledge that he has to sacrifice being with his loved ones for the sake of this war. Did you not have to do the same when you erased your father’s memories? Even though you are still in the castle you call home.”

“Well, I suppose…”

Coran turned to face the rest of the team with a smile. “You all are aware of how much he misses home, yet he still chooses stays here. If my family were still alive, and I had no knowledge of whether I would see them again, I do not know if I could say the same. I think maybe that’s one of the strongest displays of love there is.”

Hunk frowned. “Well if that’s the case, we have to go after him! We said such horrible things, he probably _is_ going to try to leave now.”

Coran only smiled and grabbed Hunk’s hand, wrapping his own around it. “I think by now we all know well that Lance is full of surprises.”

With that, he turned and exited the room. Hunk opened his hand to find a small metal device lying in his palm.  
_

After Coran left, Allura looked to the monitors to confirm that a ship had in fact left the docking bay. With no way to track him, and a fair amount of time having already passed, the team figured that the only thing left to do was wait. While they were worried about Lance, it was no longer for the same reasons as earlier.

Coran had given them a lot to think about.

Waiting was no easy task, though, and distractions were hard to come by. Keith tried to train, but was quickly thrown on his back by a training dummy. Hunk gave up on his attempts at cooking after botching his third attempt at a simple recipe. Pidge retreated to her lion to meditate, but couldn’t hold her concentration.

After a few hours, they all gave up and turned to bed.  
_

Hunk was the first to wake late the next morning, which was abnormal. Shiro was usually up very early, followed by Keith. Pidge slept in the latest, as she tended to finally settle down late into the night, when she bothered to go to sleep at all.

He started walking towards the kitchen to make breakfast, but paused as he passed an open door. Peeking in, he saw Lance across his room.

“Lance!” Hunk exclaimed, running in uninvited to wrap his friend in a bear hug. “I’m so glad to see you! We’re all so sorry for the things we said, we completely misjudged you, I-”

“Hunk,” Lance laughed, “it’s okay! I know you guys are sorry. I’m sorry I ran out like that.”

Hunk lowered Lance to the floor. “Yeah, about that. Where did you go? If you didn’t need the ship to go home, or to the Galra, where did you take it?”

Lance smiled up at him. “Let’s wait for everyone else to wake up, and I’ll tell you.”

Keith was the next to wake up, whose reaction to finding Lance was similar to Hunk’s, minus the hugging. Pidge was next, who found them immediately by following the sound coming from Lance’s room. She said nothing, but pulled Lance into a quick hug, squeezing a little tighter than necessary. Shiro was the last one awake for once, and staggered into the room with dark circles under his eyes. Upon seeing Lance, he frowned and opened his mouth, but Lance cut him off.

“If you’re here to apologize, or yell at me, or whatever, hit the brakes for a minute. We can talk after I show you something.”

Lance marched down the hallway with a spring in his step, which came as a huge relief to the others, though a bit confusing. He led them towards the common room, then ran ahead inside while they trailed behind.

Upon entering the room, they were greeted by Lance and Coran waiting with their arms spread. “Surprise!”

The room looked completely different from the usually barren common room they had known. A table stretched through the middle, with a variety of food spread across it. A number of boxes sat on one of the couches. A large banner stretched across the walls, with “Happy one year anniversary!” written in bright red letters.

Once the team walked in, Coran turned to a small box on the floor, which Pidge recognized as the drone she had seen Lance with days ago. He picked it up and opened a panel underneath it, poking at a few buttons inside. After a few seconds, cheerful music filled the room.

“What is this?” Shiro asked in bewilderment.

“Today is the one year anniversary of the day we came to space! Well, in Earth days, at least. Being in space really makes you realize that time is a totally made up concept.”

The team just stared at the scene before them in shock.

“What is all that noise?” Allura asked as she entered the room. She looked over the room and turned to Lance. “Lance? You’re back?”

“Perfect, we’re all here! Now the celebration can begin.”

“Hold on a moment, Lance,” Allura interrupted. “I’m confused. What is going on? What is this? Where did you go?”

Lance finally sobered, and fell to one of the couches beside him. “Well, it’s the one year anniversary of the five of us coming to space, and I wanted to celebrate. I was feeling pretty homesick lately, so I was trying to find things to cheer me up. I missed my dog, so I wanted to try and program another drone like Rover. And I missed Earth food, but we didn’t have a lot of ingredients. Then I wanted to do something fun besides training, so I wanted to see if I could turn my bayard into a hockey stick or something.”

Lance laughed. “Finding the library was an accident, I really was just wandering. But then it reminded me of how much I even missed simple stuff like _reading_. But there are no Earth books there, so I thought I could try learning Altean.”

Lance sighed and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “I even tried taking a ship back to the space mall to go to the store with all that stuff from Earth. I didn’t want to take my lion because I thought it would attract too much attention, but I got caught.”

Lance turned to look at Keith then, who looked to the floor with a blush. The rest of the team looked to each other in total shock. Lance had been doing all of this work to make the castle feel more like home?

“But then,” Lance continued, “I remembered one of my favorite parts of Earth was celebrating holidays with my family. And we’ve been here a year, now, and we haven’t celebrated anything! I mean, I know we’re in a war and all, but I think it’s safe to say we’ve had a few moments worth celebrating. I knew the one year anniversary was coming up, so I wanted to plan a surprise party!”

“But how did you know it’s been a year? We don’t have any measure of Earth time up here,” Pidge questioned.

Lance lifted his arm and pulled back his sleeve to reveal a watch on his wrist. “It displays the date and time on Earth, still. My dad gave it to me before I left for the Garrison. Said it was the most durable watch he ever owned, and not even crashing a spaceship could break it. Guess he was right about that.”

Allura stepped forward then, and Lance’s jumped up and gulped. He expected the team to be at least a little angry with his actions, Allura most of all. As she approached, he bowed his head. 

“I’m sorry I kept secrets from you, and I’m sorry I yelled. I just couldn’t believe you ever thought I would turn you over to the Galra or try to go back to Earth, so I knew I had to do something to fix this. I understand if you-”

Allura cut him off as she grabbed Lance and pulled him in for a hug.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice wavering. “This is exactly what we needed.”

Lance smiled and hugged her back. “Of course, Princess.”

When she let go, Lance brightened again and walked to the couch with the boxes. “Oh! I also got you all presents at the space mall!”

“Presents?” Keith questioned.

“Sure!” Lance exclaimed. “No holiday is complete without presents! Well, a few of them are, but I think giving gifts is the best, so yeah. Presents.”

Lance turned to Hunk first and handed him a large box. “I stopped by Vrepit Sal’s. That guy misses you so much, said you saved his restaurant. He practically begged me to give you this.”

Hunk opened the box to find all sorts of spices, sauces, and ingredients inside. Some of them he recognized, others were completely foreign to him. With this, they could try so many new recipes.

Hunk smiled up at Lance. “Think you wanna try for space salsa again?”

Lance laughed and high fived him. “Heck yeah, dude!”

Next was Pidge. “Oh man, Pidge, I am so excited for this. You remember that game we bought last time?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Of course I do. We spent so long digging money out of the fountain and then didn’t even have the console.”

Lance handed her a small box. “Now we do.”

Pidge gasped and ripped it open to find a small handheld console inside. “Yes!!!”

“We are gonna play the hell out of that later, I can promise you that.”

Pidge scoffed. “Please, I’m gonna kick your butt and you’re gonna quit. I give it five minutes tops.”

He laughed. “You’re on.”

Keith came next, and before Lance could even hand him the small box, Keith held his hands up. “No, Lance, you don’t have to. I said some really horrible things to you, and-”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Dude, shut up and accept the gift. All is forgiven. We’re a team, and that includes you, so you have to take part in the celebration too. Which includes giving gifts.”

“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed, taking the box from Lance’s hands. Inside was a small round container.

“It’s to polish your weird knife from the Blade of Marmora. I figure if you’re carrying that thing around with you all the time just wrapped in that old rag, it’s probably pretty gross. Now you can get it nice and shiny. You won’t even need to fight with it, you can just use it to intimidate the Galra. That’s how cool it’ll look”

Keith smiled at him. “Thanks, Lance. This means a lot.”

Lance shrugged with a smirk. “I know, I’m great at giving gifts.”

Shiro came next, and Lance seemed to clam up as he gave him the box. Nevertheless, he insistently shoved it in Shiro’s arms. Inside was a small stuffed cat.

“The cat was the closest thing I could find to a lion, unfortunately. I, uh…” he trailed off, and his face turned bright red. “Back on Earth, I had a stuffed dolphin. It’s silly, I know, but I used to get a lot of nightmares. When I would wake up in the middle of the night, I could hug it and remember that I was home, and that it was okay. You, uh...I know things have been hard for you since you escaped from the Galra. And based on those bags under your eyes, I’m guessing sleep isn’t exactly easy for you. I thought it might help.”

Lance looked down then, face still burning. Shiro smiled and pulled him in for a hug, and Lance stiffened briefly before reciprocating. “Thank you, Lance. This means the world to me. You’re a really great friend.”

Lance smiled sheepishly, but nodded. “I got your back, dude. We’re gonna win this.”

Shiro nodded. “We will. And you’re a huge part of that.”

Allura looked to the bench and saw that all of the boxes were gone. “Well, Lance, that was a very kind gesture-”

“Not so fast, Princess,” he interrupted. “You think you’re not getting a present, too?”

She blushed. “Well, I made some very horrible accusations, and I know I am not from your planet, and-”

“Don’t be silly,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re a part of this team, too, just as much as any of us.”

She smiled. “That is good to hear.”

He turned and started to head for the door. “Be right back! I didn’t have a box big enough!”

He returned a moment later with a large pot in his hands, before dropping it unceremoniously on the floor. 

“Wow, that’s heavy.”

Inside the pot was a plant, almost like a small tree. The trunk was a dull gray, with slightly paler branches, but big pink and white flowers bloomed all along its limbs.

“I remember you talking about the flowers you saw from your memories of Altea. I know this isn’t the same, but it reminded me of that. I can’t...I’m sorry you don’t have your home anymore. I don’t know what it’s like to have your planet destroyed. But I do know what it feels like to have to leave it, and it’s not easy. I thought this might help ease some of that...emptiness. Make this place feel more like a home.”

Allura turned to Lance with watering eyes, before rushing forward to give him another hug. She tried to speak, but cut herself off with small sobs.

Lance hugged her back, leaning his head against her shoulder. “I miss home, too. But we can’t keep pretending that this isn’t a new form of home, either. I want to go back to Earth, but I don’t want to leave this place either. I’m sorry if I made you think resented you, or Voltron, in any way.”

Allura only cried harder. After a few minutes spent still clinging to Lance, she finally gathered herself. “Thank you for helping me build a home here, Lance.”

He smiled. “Any time, Princess.”

She squeezed him one last time before pulling away. Lance turned to Coran.

“Hey Coran?”

“Yes, my boy?”

Lance smiled sadly. “I didn’t get you anything at the space mall.”

Coran nodded. “That’s quite alright.”

“But,” Lance continued, “I do have something for you.”

He walked over to Coran, then lifted his hand. He turned his watch over and unfastened the buckle before pulling it off and presenting it to Coran.

Coran shook his head. “I couldn’t possibly-”

“Coran,” Lance interrupted. “This whole thing has been really hard for me. And even when you knew I was keeping secrets, and that I was sneaking around, and that I wanted to go home, you never judged me or questioned me. You have trusted me this whole time, and I can’t thank you enough for that. I mean, without you, I couldn’t have done any of this!”

Lance spread his arms and admired at the room around him, his gaze lingering on the team waiting behind them. “I kept this watch so I can always know what time it is on Earth, but also so I can remember my dad. You remind me of him, a lot.”

His eyes grew watery, and he smiled. “We’ve been here for a year now. This war isn’t close to be over. I couldn’t bear to let this go, because that meant letting go of Earth, in a way. But now I’m okay here, because I have a family here too. And that especially includes you. So thank you, for everything.”

Coran looked down to Lance through watery eyes. “Well, I suppose I should say the same. You do rather remind me of the son I had back on Altea.”

Lance nodded then, and Coran pulled him in for a hug. Both of them stayed for a moment, each crying with grief and happiness. Not long after, Allura came and hugged them both, followed by the rest of the team. When they pulled away, Lance wiped his eyes and smiled.

“Well, folks, we’ve got music, courtesy of my new friend DJ Roomba, and some pretty great food, even though Coran made it. It’s time to celebrate!”  
_

The thing about home is that there doesn’t have to be just one. Sure, Lance missed his home back on Earth. But looking over the group of people around him, each enjoying each other’s company and just being happy together, he couldn’t help but realize that this was some sort of home, too.

He could read every Altean book on the shelves of the library, or buy every product at the Earth store in the space mall. They made this castle feel more familiar, but they did not define this home. It was Shiro’s reassuring presence, Pidge’s deadpan remarks, Hunk’s bright smile, Keith’s fiery attitude, Allura’s soft smile, Coran’s unrelenting support.

The six other people in this room were the only other beings in the universe who understood what he was going through. And yes, they fought, and disagreed, and kept secrets, and sometimes failed. Nevertheless, they were still there, because that’s just how family was.

And Lance loved them.

**Author's Note:**

> Wowwww like I know I love sappy stuff, but this one is probably the sappiest thing I've written yet. And it was also completely not what I intended? It was supposed to be about Lance trying to use space junk to make things from Earth, and turned into this. Maybe I'll make a sequel that's closer to the original plan? I dunno.
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this! I finally got some serious Coran appreciation in there, which is always a good thing. And once again, it's focused on how sweet and wonderful Lance is, because that's the only thing I can write, I guess.
> 
> So what's next from me? Great question. Maybe another long multi-chapter fic again? I'm lacking ideas, so if you have anything you're dying to see, I'd love to hear it. I'm always taking prompts [over at my tumblr!](https://zurela.tumblr.com/)


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